


What If A Child

by MrsSaxon



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Children, Drabble, Established Relationship, I'm bad at pseudonyms don't mock me, M/M, Murder Family, Murder Husbands, Oneshot, fluff and angst all at the same time, makes you cry, makes you smile, married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:31:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5199167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsSaxon/pseuds/MrsSaxon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt – A drabble where Hannibal is watching Will interact with someone else’s baby (courtesy of @openheart-wickedmind )</p><p>(This is getting pretty popular on tumblr so decided to repost it here)</p>
            </blockquote>





	What If A Child

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OpenHeart_WickedMind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpenHeart_WickedMind/gifts).



Hannibal cautiously stalked the halls of this new institution of learning. It was a risk, of course, showing his face, but he had become accustomed to picking Will up from work.

To be frank, they had had quite a debate over it with Hannibal taking the unyielding position of Will’s safety before his own. Will had made excellent points that seeing them together in public might jog a person’s memory that much faster, putting them both at risk. On the other hand, if they had agreed that Will take public transportation home, Hannibal just would have arrived before it. Hannibal wasn’t good at compromises as it turned out.

But in exchange he had conceded to let Will do the grocery shopping, to avoid detection by Hannibal’s trademark taste, and he felt that was sacrifice enough for this small security.

Hannibal had managed to restrain himself from actually entering the building, usually, remaining in the car, parked somewhere discreet, for Will to find him. But Will was running a little late this evening and Hannibal was not a patient man.

Will’s office had been locked and empty. It was now only one of those things but Hannibal was quite sure the university would be able to replace the handle in due course. He found Will, rather, in his last class of the day, the lecture hall deserted except for Will and an infant, of all things.

Hannibal’s lungs swelled in relief laying eyes on him again, but rather than give him an exultant hello, he paused in the doorway to admire his husband and the child.

“Brrrm, brrrrm…” Will was making ridiculous noises as he ran a toy train over the child. She squealed and giggled in ecstasy, grabbing first at the toy, then at Will’s glasses. Hannibal’s lips quirked, watching Will grapple with her, attempting to extract his spectacles from her tiny, smeary grip.

“Ack, no no no, those are mine, I can’t- let go…” Will eventually succeeded in getting them out of her reach but grimaced at the smudged fingerprints all over the lenses and did not bother putting them back on.

“Well, I hope you’re happy,” Will muttered, “now you look even more like a fuzzy pink blob.”

The child gurgled unapologetically, bubbles of spit forming around her delighted mouth.

“You’re a little monster, you know that?” Will grinned, fondly wiping away her drool, “you’re an adorable little monster and I could just eat you up, yes I could.” He cooed. Hannibal worked very hard at stifling a laugh so as not to give himself away.

“I’m so sorry Professor Turner, I didn’t mean to take so long,” a harried woman rushed in, taking no notice of Hannibal lurking in the doorway, her enormous book bag clunking behind her.

“Thank you so much for watching her!” the exhausted woman smiled gratefully, picking up her infant, “She wasn’t too much trouble, was she?” She looked up, concerned.

Will shook his head, smiling, “No trouble at all, we were getting along famously.” Will looked up from the child for the first time and immediately noticed Hannibal. Hannibal didn’t wonder that Will had become as sensitive to his presence as he had to Will. Even without Hannibal’s nose, Hannibal was quite sure Will would find him blindfolded.

“H- Husband!” Will called out in surprise, covering his flub quickly. Hannibal was too unusual a name to be bandied about.

Hannibal stepped forward elegantly, broad smile on his face, “I was just coming to pick you up, darling.” Pet names were not really their thing in private, but they had taken to using them to address each other in public to avoid name confusion. But the practice was growing on Hannibal, it felt good getting to show his adoration for Will to the world at last.

“Who’s this?” Hannibal asked brightly once he had reached the table. His eyes were on the sweet little one that had so captivated his husband’s heart.

“Lillian,” her mother supplied, “she’s my little hell raiser.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Hannibal commented, tickling her under the chin, “she seems like a quite well-behaved little angel.”

The mother smiled dryly, “You haven’t seen her at bath time.”

She directed her attention once more to Will, however, “Thank you again, Professor Turner for letting me bring her to class today. There was no time to get a sitter and I was going to have to miss class if I didn’t take her with me.”

Will shook his head, “It’s alright, I’m just glad we weren’t covering too much blood and gore today,” he smiled thinly, “please, bring her whenever you have to, it’s no trouble.”

The woman heaved a huge sigh of relief, “You don’t know how good that is to hear. I wish every professor at this school had your empathy.”

Will passed a look at Hannibal over the comment but both of them wisely chose not to say anything.

She got her bags together to leave, “Right, I think we’re overdue for dinner, aren’t we, Lillian?” She smiled at her babe, “Good night, Professor Turner. Very nice to meet you, Mr. Turner.” She held out her hand for Hannibal to shake.

“My pleasure,” Hannibal returned, shaking it, “and a pleasure meeting you, Lillian.” He waved at the little one until she lost focus as her mother walked away.

“I’m sorry, I got distracted. Jasmine needed me to watch her just for a few minutes while she talked over an extension with a professor leaving the building…”

Hannibal tuned out Will’s excuses, thinking of how Will practically glowed with the child, thinking of how much he had wished for not just a life with Will, but a family.

“So are you ready to go or…?” Will was standing in front of him, arching an eyebrow critically.

“Will, we need a child,” Hannibal said smoothly.

Will’s face dropped and he barked a surprised laugh. Hannibal refocused on him as Will rubbed his face, hiding his amusement as he had realized Hannibal was serious.

“Hannibal, I hate to break this to you, but we’re wanted criminals. Legal adoption is not exactly an option for us,” he spoke slowly, as if explaining a difficult concept to an eager, but flagging student.

“I said I wanted a child, I didn’t say we had to adopt,” Hannibal returned simply, feeling a pout coming on.

Will looked up at him wryly, “Are you hiding some extra parts I don’t know about? Don’t tell me you harvested a uterus and ovaries and kept them ventilated somewhere. Then again, I did wonder where Mason got the idea…”

Hannibal shot him a look that would have meant instant death to a lesser man. Will looked chagrined, barely, acknowledging it was a cheap shot. Will sighed deeply, putting his bag down, “Hannibal, it’s not feasible…”

“You wanted a child,” Hannibal overrode him, “Don’t deny it. You’ve been seeking out fatherhood ever since Abigail.”

Will’s eyes went dead at the mention of her name and it made Hannibal’s heart turn to ice but they couldn’t have this conversation without talking about her.

“I am _not_ … _will_ not replace Abigail, nor will I attempt to.” There was an edge of a growl in Will’s voice as he glared at Hannibal.

Hannibal nodded, “Nor should you. But-”

“The teacup will not reform, Hannibal,” Will’s voice was suddenly hard, but not angry, “you can’t make it, no matter how hard you keep trying. Please don’t try this.”

Hannibal exhaled in a short breath and his teeth ground together in frustration. He kept his eyes pinned on Will’s clear blue ones, wanting to see give there but there wasn’t any.

Hannibal swallowed hard, “You were happy.”

Will blinked, “What?”

“Just now, with Lillian, you were happy,” Hannibal lowered his head, defeated, “I want you to be happy.” The matted carpet wasn’t exactly a worthy recipient for the phrase, but it would have to do.

Hannibal could hear Will’s mouth open in surprise and the next moment Hannibal felt Will’s hand on his shoulder, then arms around his neck, pulling him into an embrace. Hannibal wrapped his arms around the smaller man and indulged himself in his favorite scent, burying his face in Will’s hair. But even that didn’t soothe the ache in his chest for family, for his own family.

“I know you do,” Will whispered, “but maybe some things… we can’t… you can’t give me the world, Hannibal.”

Hannibal didn’t understand what he meant and so, passed over it. He shook his head anyway, “I don’t want it just for you.”

Will nodded and swallowed. Hannibal could feel Will tightening and knew a sob was at his lips but he wouldn’t let it through. He held Will tighter, at once sorry for all the hurt he’d caused all over again.

“Abigail told me… she said you had a place for us,” Will mastered his emotions and kept his voice even. But his arms were still tight around Hannibal’s neck so Hannibal just kept holding him, as long as he needed.

He nodded, “I did. I wanted you… both to be there.” He hesitated, then murmured, “We could start again.”

Will closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, “As long as you’re not reconstructing Abigail. You can’t, we can’t do that.”

Hannibal squeezed his husband tightly, “Abigail is within us. But she will never again walk this earth. I have accepted that.”

“Good,” Will replied, not pleased, but supporting Hannibal’s resolution. At last they parted, stepping back from each other just enough to breathe without resistance, still close enough to feel each other’s warmth.

“Let’s go home,” Will said, suddenly exhausted, “We can talk about the rest there.”

Hannibal looped an arm around his shoulders as they walked out and kissed his temple, “I would give you the world, if it would make you happy, but fortunately, you don’t ask for that. Most of the time.” Hannibal grinned, teasing.

Will cracked a smile, as always, to Hannibal it was breath-taking. “If you’re bored, I can come up with some requests,” he grinned, waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, please do,” Hannibal purred and was very glad they were on their way home. As it turned out, he could make Will very happy indeed. Twice in a row.

**Author's Note:**

> FYI, you all are free to send me requests. I like doing gift work like this. I can't promise to do all of them, but since I know some of you don't have tumblrs which is where I normally do prompt lists, you can message me here or leave a comment or something. c: 
> 
> Love,  
> Your Friendly Neighborhood Hannifluff


End file.
